Kapaleeswarar temple inspires design studio’s modular pooja rooms

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Fraternity of Architecture & Interior Design (FOAID) Studios, a city based design collective specialises in three verticals – design, turnkey and modular furniture. The new age design company is finding inspiration in the ancient temple architecture of Tamil Nadu to craft modular pooja rooms for homes.

(Clockwise) The blueprint of a modular pooja room; the finished product; Ekta Agarwal

Chennai:

Ekta Agarwal, the Founder, Director and Chief Designer of the Studio, incepted the company in 2007 with her then partner Suny Akber, with whom she worked for 10 years on many successful projects.

Speaking about the temple project, Ekta tells us, “I have always been fascinated by the design of temples in the state and have travelled all around Tamil Nadu to enrich my understanding of these sites.

While I realised that we were comfortable working on the interiors of major corporate buildings (such as the Apollo Dental Clinic in Khader Nawaz Khan Road), we also realised that people were looking for newer ways of doing up their pooja rooms. And that’s how the inspiration for designing modular pooja rooms came about.

We are working with a lot of craftsmen to undertake such projects which include replicas of popular temples like the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore, among others.”

The market for such specific modular pooja rooms is also booming, according to Ekta. She says, “Take for instance, a small modular pooja room that is 2 by 3 sft in your apartment would cost you anywhere between Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000. In bigger homes, with modular pooja rooms in the range of 6 by 6 sft, the cost could range anywhere from Rs 3-4 lakh and the temples would be 6 by 7 feet high.”

Ekta’s crew has also found avenues to furnish the interiors of various mosques in regions like Ambur, and other parts of TN. Going forth, her team has plans of embarking on restoration of temples and such holy heritage sites in and around the state.

The team also advocates contemporary design concepts such as the philosophy of open office spaces, that help create more engagement between clients and the company.

The open office concept involves the sharing of the functional experience of a company with its customers. This system walks customers through the entire design process specific to their respective sites of construction.